November 2013 archive

So yesterday marked a momentous (my words!) occasion when Alec Salmond, First Minister and Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister gathered the media together in Glasgow to launch their case for an independent Scotland.

They published ‘Scotland’s Future’ – a tome running to 670 pages, 170,000 words and 650 Question & Answers, which is “the most detailed prospectus for the independence of a country that has ever been published”.

Now, this is one side of the story, and one that many of us in Scotland have been calling out for because if there is anything missing from the impassioned pleas, the rhetoric and barbs from one side of the fence to the other, it is the details that we as voting Scots need to make a clear and important decision – one which is a massive obligation and right.

So many people will now be in a position to take their time, ruminate over the white paper and begin to make sense of its content. Within minutes of the publication, we were seeing the predictable commentary from both sides about the content of it – just let us get a chance to read it please!

Anyway, rant over – my main reason for putting fingers to keyboard today (ah we’ll soon look back and say…they used to use their FINGERS?) is to comment about the way in which this information is being delivered to us.

In an almost perfectly executed launch (you’ve got to lose some marks for a website that is having difficulty handling the demand for your PDF!), we saw a whole range of modern & exciting media being used:

Live streams on YouTube

Blog post by Nicola Sturgeon signposting the way to the document

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest

hashtags to follow the online conversation

infographics

videos

As a communicator in the modern business world, this is a fantastic case study of how to make best use of all of the tools and techniques available to reach your audience.

Personally, I’m still undecided…before yesterday I had seen very little in the way of definite detail on either side which was convincing enough – as a proud Scot, its enormously difficult to make your head & your heart tell you the same story until you have the depth of knowledge to make a conscious informed decision.

Now all we need is a bit of time to get our head round it all, have the opportunities to ask our own questions, listen to informed debate, not be browbeaten by anyone and not fall out with our neighbours!